Tag: Thomas A Robinson National Staadium

New Andre Rodgers National Baseball Stadium To Be Constructed

As of Wednesday, October 8, 2014

#By BRENT STUBBS

#Senior Sports Reporter

#bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

#WITH the Baseball Baseball Association and the Bahamas Baseball Federation now coming back together under one umbrella, the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture is looking at the next phase of restoring the creditability of the sport with the construction of the new Andre Rodgers National Baseball Stadium.

#According to Dr Daniel Johnson, the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, work on the new stadium is expected to begin in January. The state-of-the-art facility is expected to be erected on the plot of land opposite the Government High School where the Seventh-Day Adventist is currently hosting a Revival Camp.

#“With the signing of this agreement, as a show of good faith on our part, I’ve instructed the National Sports Authority to get the architects and planners in this week because we have located the site for the reconstruction of the Andre Rodgers National Baseball Stadium,” Dr Johnson said.

#“Once all of the associations see the plans, we hope to break ground the first week in December as we do a special tribute in honour of Andre Rodgers. We hope to have several of his former professional baseball teammates in the United States to visit the Bahamas as host of Antoan Richardson, our present Major Leaguer, when we will break ground for the new construction that should commence on January 1.”

#The facility, when completed, should have a 3,000-seat capacity in the initial stage. There will be accommodations for locker rooms, vendors, lighting and green space. Additionally, there will be eight smaller diamonds erected for the use of practice fields and the staging of junior league programmes and tournaments.

#The original Andre Rodgers National Stadium was located in the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre, was constructed in 1966 adjacent to the old Thomas A Robinson track and field stadium. However, when the government decided to build the new TAR National Stadium with the People’s Republic of China, the Andre Rodgers Stadium was destroyed in 2006.

#Rodgers, a talented shortstop, was the first Bahamian to play in the Major League. He made his debut with the New York Yankees on April 16, 1957 and finished his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 30, 1967. He died aged 70 in December 2004.

#“I can’t put a figure on what it will take to construct the new stadium,” Dr Johnson said. “But when you have so many young players playing in the United States and they can’t come home to play, you can’t put a price figure on what it will take for us to construct the stadium. But I can guarantee you that everything that we do in that complex will take care of itself. “

#Once the baseball stadium is completed, Dr Johnson said work will commence on the construction of the new Churchill Tener Knowles National Softball Stadium, which was also demolished to make way for the new National Stadium. The new softball stadium will be located just across from the Banker’s Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

#The original softball stadium was constructed in honour of Tener Knowles, a resident of Grand Bahama, who was the second Bahamian to be inducted into the International Softball Federation Hall of Fame. He was enshrined in the class of 1991 as an administrator and organiser. He followed the late Leon ‘Apache’ Knowles, who was inducted in 1987 as a coach/player.

#Additionally, Dr Johnson said the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association is in the process of constructing a proper stadium court, the Bahamas Golf Federation is nearing the completion of their nine-hole course, the Bahamas Football Association is looking at upgrading their pitch and there will be a new multi-purpose indoor arena that will be built on a site to be announced.

#“We’re looking at making the entire area a one-stop sports mecca,” Dr Johnson said. “There are talks with the hotel division of the College of The Bahamas with the idea of designing a small hotel that the college students will run so that we can host any type of games for athletes, coaches and officials.

#“So we have a lot of things on the agenda that we hope to have established over the next few years

Vision Of The Future

As of Friday, January 13, 2012

#By BRENT STUBBS

#Senior Sports Reporter

#bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

#NOT since the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture demolished the Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium in 2006 to make way for the construction of the new Thomas A. Robinson Track and Field Stadium has senior baseball been played in New Providence.

#Yesterday, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Charles Maynard and Bahamas Baseball Federation’s president, Craig “Salty” Kemp, unveiled the plans for the construction of the new Andre Rodgers Baseball Complex.

#The plan, designed by architect and former baseball player turned coach Teran Rodgers, calls for a main stadium with a seating capacity of 5,000. There would also be a pair of 13-and-over fields and combined smaller fields for ages 9-10 and 11-12 that will accommodate 1,500 seats each.

#There will also be at least four practice fields built in the proposal for the complex, which will be next to the Government High School in the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre.

#Additionally, there will be a baseball academy and five dormitories.

#Construction of the complex, according to Maynard, will begin in stages sometime this year, although he declined to give any further details until all of the specifics are ironed out by the Sports Authority that will come into existence in the next two weeks.

Map

Position of the proposed Andre Rodgers Baseball Complex

#“In 2006, in preparation for the ground breaking of the new national stadium, the Andre Rodgers Baseball stadium was demolished, and so from 2006 to date, we have not had a national facility for baseball and senior baseball has suffered as a result,” Maynard disclosed.

#“In fact, night-time baseball in the Bahamas has suffered as a result. So, with the introduction of these facilities, we hope to take advantage of all of the success that we have had over the years in junior baseball and bring senior baseball back to the Bahamas in a big way.”

#Kemp, accompanied by his secretary general Teddy Sweeting, it’s great that under his watch, the complex will start to take shape, but it doesn’t matter because he just want to see that the young players in the country have the best opportunity to play in the best facilities available.

#“I’m honored to be the one sitting in the chair here for the moment,” Kemp stressed. “I’m just more elated that it’s going to take place soon.”

#While the focus is now being placed on the new complex, Kemp said the federation is looking forward to the day when at least one stadium is constructed on each of the islands where they

#“The plans that we have for baseball is going to blow everybody away,” he said. “But this is our starting point. We would like to see Major League teams come here and have spring training and have exhibition games.

#“We would like to host collegiate games. We have all sorts of things that we would like to see happen for this complex. That is why we believe that it is important for us to design a first class facility to attract these kinds of events to our shores.”

#Kemp said it is obvious that everyone wants to come to the Bahamas, but a lot of times, there’s only one shot in making it possible and so the federation wants to make sure that they take advantage of their opportunity.

#Maynard congratulated the federation for their diligence in keeping the sport alive, despite not having a national stadium to showcase the senior players.

#“What they would have done was brought baseball back alive in the Bahamas. Baseball used to be one of the number one sports back in the day in the 1960 and 1970,” he said.

#“We had a lull there for a long time baseball just was not progressing. The sports federation decided to concentrate on youth development and doing that we ended up with successes in baseball.”